


A Captured Image

by foreverHenry919



Category: Forever (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M, Family Issues, Fantasy, Gen, Ghosts, Haunting, Kidnapping, Restless spirits, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-18 04:07:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29483439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foreverHenry919/pseuds/foreverHenry919
Summary: A beautifully-framed floor-length mirror that had once belonged to Henry’s first wife, Nora, arrives at the antique shop as a wedding anniversary gift for Jo and Henry. As beautiful as it is, it hides a dark secret that could tear the young Morgan family apart.
Relationships: Henry Morgan & Lucas Wahl, Henry Morgan & Nora Morgan, Jo Martinez & Henry Morgan
Comments: 18
Kudos: 5





	1. Through the Looking Glass

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [A Switch in Time](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20119921) by [foreverHenry919](https://archiveofourown.org/users/foreverHenry919/pseuds/foreverHenry919). 



> I do not own "Forever TV 2014" show or any of its characters.

A delivery truck pulled away from Abe’s Antiques just as Dr. Henry Morgan arrived after a long day at the OCME. Before he entered the shop, he craned his neck to see the name on the side of the truck as it disappeared down the street. He wondered what had been delivered and cast a curious eye at the items in the retail section as he walked through it. 

“Hello, Abraham,” he said to his son as he drew closer to him. “What was just delivered?” 

“A surprise,” Abe replied with a satisfied grin. “Wait’ll you see it. I had them put it upstairs in you guys’ bedroom.” 

Intrigued, Henry climbed the stairs and found a familiar piece of furniture in the bedroom he shared with his wife, Jo. It was an ornate tiger oak full-length bedroom mirror that stood 68” tall and the mirror itself 28” long and 14” wide. The overlay was beautiful and it had a carved top, metal claw feet on metal casters, and a swivel design. 

“Ain’t it beautiful?” Abe called up to him. 

“Yes. Very,” he called back to him. Silently, though, he wondered why it was here since he had not requested it and, as far as he knew, neither had Abe. He recognized it as part of the furnishings from his and Nora’s cottage in Rook’s Nest. It had been a wedding present from her grandparents; custom-made especially for her. Although it was a beautiful piece, he wasn’t sure if his new wife, Jo, would react favorably to having it in their home, let alone in their very bedroom! 

“How did it get here?” he asked his son, who had now joined him in front of the mirror. “I mean, why is it here?” he clarified. 

Abe handed him an envelope that had come with it. While Henry took the card out of the envelope and read it, Abe peered over his shoulder. 

“Apparently, it’s an anniversary gift for us from your cousins, David and Cynthia,” his father stated. 

“David? Who’s David?” Abe asked. 

“Oh, I hadn’t had the chance to tell you,” he replied with a smile. “Your cousin, the former ‘Lord’ Henry, has decided to drop the use of the first part of his name from now on. According to him, there is room for only one Henry David Longworth Morgan in this family and I’m it,” he explained with a broader smile. 

“Oh. Okay,” Abe replied with a shrug and raised eyebrows. His features changed to a look of uncertainty. “Do you think Jo will even want this here. I mean after what happened with that portrait and you trading places in time with your younger self that time. Kinda spooky.” 

“Well, there’s no way that either David or Cynthia could have known about that … strange experience of mine,” he replied. “But you’re right, Abraham. Perhaps we should simply place it in storage and send them a polite thank you note.” 

The shop’s bell over the door tinkled announcing Jo’s arrival with little Lorenzo. They quickly left the room and met Jo downstairs. Henry and Jo shared a quick peck and then he hoisted the toddler onto his shoulders with a loud, happy “Up we go!” The boy laughed merrily while he rode his father’s shoulders as he strode over to the stairs. 

“Not on your shoulders, Henry, I told you,” Jo warned him. 

“Of course, not, darling,” he replied and swung the boy back down to the floor. “Oh, ah, there’s something I need to tell you,” he added. He let go of the boy’s hand when Abe took charge of him and disappeared up the stairs with him. Henry stepped closer to Jo as he rubbed his sweaty palms on his pants. 

“I know that look,” she said cautiously. “What do I need to worry about now?” 

While Henry explained to Jo about the mirror, the shop’s bell tinkled again. They turned their attention to the entrance and saw Lucas entering the shop. 

“Hey, guys,” he greeted them. He then held up a small blue hardcover book. “Abe told me that I could bring this over for him to check out. See if it’s really a 1726 first edition copy of ‘Gulliver’s Travels’,” he explained as the reason for his visit. 

“He’s upstairs,” Jo told him. “I’ll go and get him.” 

Lucas smiled and nodded and then handed the book to Henry when he asked to see it. After a few moments, Abe returned and walked behind the retail counter. 

“Uh, Dad, ya mind closing the shop for me?” he asked, thankfully unafraid to address his father in that manner in front of Lucas. He took the book from him, walked behind the retail counter, and sat down. 

Lucas grinned from ear to ear, still “jazzed” that the two men felt comfortable enough not to hide from him, their familial connection to each other. While he waited for Abe to put on his reading glasses and study the book, he shifted from foot to foot, excited to learn if he’d invested in a treasure or not. 

Henry, in the meantime, had closed the shop and now excused himself to see about Jo and his little son upstairs. When he reached the landing, he saw Jo coming down the hall toward him, a look of unease on her face. 

“That’s a, um, beautiful mirror in our bedroom,” she said. “It looks old. Where did it come from?” she asked. 

He hesitated before replying, “It’s an anniversary present from our niece and nephew across the pond.” Her face lit up with a bright smile, wiping the uneasiness away. “It … belonged to Nora.” 

The uneasiness returned, wiping her smile away. “It was nice of them,” she began, “but I don’t want it in our home. Remember what happened when you brought that portrait over here?” He nodded as he closed his eyes and lowered his head. 

“I’m sorry, hon,” she said. “But I don’t get a good vibe from it. Could you please … just … take it out, take it away?” she asked, waving her hand. 

“Yes, of course, darling,” he assured her. “Lucas is here; I’ll ask him to help me take it downstairs and Abe will have it put in storage tomorrow.” 

She visibly relaxed and her smile returned. They hugged and kissed, then Henry turned to go and enlist Lucas’ help to remove the mirror. 

“And you guys be careful not to even look in that mirror,” she cautioned him. “I got a creepy feeling when I did,” she explained. 

He frowned slightly but nodded in response before he disappeared down the stairs. Once back downstairs, he saw Abe handing the small blue book back to a gleeful Lucas. 

“Hey, Henry!” Lucas exclaimed. “Abe says this is the genuine article. Worth every penny I spent on it and more.” 

“That’s wonderful, Lucas,” he replied with a wide grin. “Ah, would you mind helping me with something?” 

vvvv 

Lucas helped Henry haul the mirror out of the bedroom and down the stairs to the first floor. They placed it near the front door so that the movers would have ready access to it the next day. The delectable smell of roast leg of lamb had hit Lucas when they had passed by the kitchen and he had reacted accordingly by taking in a huge whiff and widening his eyes. Once the mirror was taken care of, Henry extended an invitation for him to have dinner with them and he accepted. Halfway up the stairs, though, Lucas remembered something. 

“Let me get my book that I left on the counter,” he told Henry and left to retrieve it. 

While Lucas did that, the table was set and they waited for him to join them. Several minutes passed and Lucas failed to show. Abe remarked how quiet it was downstairs and wondered if the young man had left. 

“We would have heard the bell over the shop’s entry door if he had,” Henry pointed out. 

“Um … Henry, did you remember to warn Lucas about not looking into that mirror?” Jo asked, concerned. Henry’s response only added to her concern. 

“Well, yes, I did,” he responded. “He did question me about it but … I’m sure I made myself perfectly clear to him that he shouldn’t.” 

Little Lorenzo banged his fists playfully on the tray table attached to his highchair and Jo sat down in the chair next to him to tend to him. She looked imploringly at Henry and he understood what she wanted him to do. 

“I’ll go downstairs and check on him,” he calmly told her. 

“I’ll go with you,” Abe said. His father and Jo began to protest but he insisted. “If anything happens to you, at least I’ll know. We won’t be sitting here wondering.” 

“Alright,” Henry relented. “But keep your distance. Just in case,” he cautioned. 

Jo cautioned them again not to look into the mirror and to keep their distance from it as they slowly descended the stairs. 

“Mommy scared?” the toddler asked. 

“No, no, sweetie,” she assured him and smiled broadly at him and coaxed him to eat his smaller plate of dinner. In truth, her heart was racing along with her thoughts of what may have befallen Lucas. 

Downstairs, Henry switched on the light at the foot of the stairs and made a visual sweep of the room. No Lucas. He glanced over his shoulder at Abe and raised his right hand then pointed wordlessly toward the room behind the retail counter. Abe nodded that he understood and they moved in that direction. However, Lucas wasn’t found in there, either. A confused Henry emerged from the room and faced an equally confused Abe. 

“Where could he have ---?” Henry stopped mid-sentence and spotted something just over Abe’s shoulder. He quickly moved from behind the counter and darted toward the front of the shop. 

“Careful, Dad,” Abe cautioned him. 

“Stay back, Abraham,” Henry instructed him. 

He stopped ten feet from the mirror and his heart dropped at the sight of Lucas’ book on the floor near the foot of the mirror. The canvas covering lay in a heap on the floor next to the book. Henry cursed under his breath but he avoided looking directly into the mirror as he crept closer to it. He shielded his eyes with one hand while he picked up the covering. He closed his eyes while he slipped the covering back down over the mirror. A sigh of relief escaped him and he bent down to pick the book up off of the floor. He quickly rejoined Abe near the retail counter. 

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” an apprehensive Abe asked his father. 

Henry pursed his lips and released a sigh of frustration. “Unfortunately --- I think I am.” 

“There’s no way we can lock it up in the storage,” Abe said. “We’ve gotta keep it here until we figure out a way to get him back.” He shuddered at the thought of Lucas most likely having been somehow sucked into the mirror. 

“What is it with stuff from the old house that you and Nora lived in?” Abe asked, exasperated. “Is she haunting it and everything in it?” 

Henry hesitated before responding; he was trying to work it out in his mind. “Let’s say that her restless spirit is behind this; why would she pull Lucas in?” he asked. 

Abe thought for a moment and then closed his eyes and quickly reopened them. “Perhaps her aim was off and she really meant … to get you,” he replied to his father, his voice barely above a whisper. 

vvvv 

It was dark but not pitch black, thank God. It looked like a cold place but he wasn’t cold. Just scared. What the hell had just happened anyway? All he did was sneak a peek at the mirror. Okay, even after he’d promised the Big Guy that he wouldn’t and then --- wham! He was here in this, this dark, cold-looking place that wasn’t cold but was hella scary! 

“Easy, boy, easy,” Lucas said to himself in an effort to calm himself. He looked around and noticed a shadowy figure moving slowly towards him. He steeled himself and silently hoped, desperately hoped, that whoever or whatever it was, that it was not a meat eater. 

The figure gradually took shape as it drew closer and … it was a girl. A pretty one, too. He was at first pleasantly surprised until she stood face to face with him. She looked strangely familiar. And then, it hit him. The blue eyes. The pretty face. The auburn hair styled in an elaborate upsweep and the puffy-sleeved dress with the bell-shaped skirt like women in the Victorian era. No. No. It couldn’t be! 

“You’re not Henry,” the young woman said to him with obvious disappointment. 

“Hen --- no, I’m, uh, Lucas,” he stammered out. “L-Lucas Wahl.” 

“Please don’t take this the wrong way,” she said with a soft, refined British accent. “But I thought you were someone else.” 

“Henry,” he said. She nodded. “Henry Morgan as in Dr. Henry Morgan.” She nodded again, intrigued. “So that means that you’re ---” 

“His wife,” she proudly interrupted him. “Nora. Nora Morgan.” 

VVVVVVVV 

Inspired by “A Switch in Time” which is a sequel to both “Nora Morgan’s Diary” which was a sequel to “The Morgan Chronicles”. In “Switch”, Henry makes a wish and finds himself back in time in the garden of his boyhood home. At the same time, the boy Henry from that long ago time finds himself in the antique shop in the present. All because of a portrait Henry and his family members had posed for when he was a boy. Or was it just some magical connection he had to his long-ago self as a boy? Whatever it was, they eventually get switched back to their appropriate places in time. 

[ https://archiveofourown.org/works/20119921/chapters/47663338 ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20119921/chapters/47663338)

Also, loosely adapted from a Lost in Space episode of “The Magic Mirror” S01/E21 in which Penny Robinson (per IMDB) “stumbles into an alien mirror and finds a universe occupied by one very lonely boy.” 

[ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0636232/ ](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0636232/)

Description of a vintage mirror borrowed from Pinterest 

[ https://www.pinterest.com/pin/161214861633700329/ ](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/161214861633700329/)

Information on “Gulliver’s Travels” found at 

[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulliver%27s_Travels ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulliver%27s_Travels)


	2. Chapter 2

_Henry hesitated before saying, “Let’s say that Nora’s restless spirit is behind this; why would she pull Lucas into the mirror?”_

_Abe thought for a moment and then replied, “Perhaps her aim was off and she really meant to get you.”_

VVVVVVVV 

Lucas couldn’t believe his ears. Was he actually standing face to face with Nora, Henry’s crazy wife who’d betrayed him more than once long ago? 

“No,” he said, shaking his head and turning away from her. He totally rejected this craziness. It was all just some kind of nightmare. He’d lost his balance and hit his head, that’s all. He was lying unconscious in the shop at the foot of the mirror. Yeah, he said in an effort to convince himself. Close your eyes for a moment … wake up … nightmare over, he told himself. He nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt her hand on his shoulder. 

“Hey! No touching! St-stay over there!” he ordered her. 

Disappointment flitted briefly over her features before she resumed her cool, calm demeanor and she snatched her arm away from him. “Oh, alright,” she replied. “You don’t have to behave as if you’re frightened of me.” 

“Oh, yeah?” he challenged her. “After what you did to Henry and, and to that nurse, Annie?” 

“I --- well --- Henry,” she stammered, losing her cool a bit. A huffing sound escaped her and she flicked her head up and away from him. “That was very short-sighted of me to have … not believed him at that time, I admit.” Her gaze quickly shot back at him. “But I had absolutely nothing to do with the nurse. Anna or … Anne.” She frowned slightly and shook her head. “I’m not quite sure.” 

“You’re saying that you didn’t shoot her in that London hospital in, in,” Lucas asked, groping for the end of his question. 

“That’s correct,” she replied, adamant. “That other one shot the poor woman.” 

“The … other one?” he asked, frowning and confused and very wary. 

Henry had told them the story of that awful day when Nora, aged into her 70’s, had tracked him down to the hospital from a newspaper article and had attempted to shoot him in order to reveal his inability to permanently die. Instead, a young nurse had stepped in front of him and taken the bullet which had killed her. 

“Yes,” Nora replied. Then, she bent her head toward him and in a lowered voice said, “She’s old; and she’s crazy. She’s the one you should stay away from. There’s no telling what she’ll do to you.” She pursed her lips and shook her head again. 

With that, she turned on her heel and began walking away from him back into the darkness. Only then did he realize that the spot where he stood was dimly lit. But he didn’t want to be in this weird place alone. Even if crazy Nora was his only company. He quickly stepped away from the lighted area and caught her by the wrist. 

“Please don’t go!” He swallowed and attempted to calm himself. “Don’t … don’t go. Please. I’m, uh, kinda freaked out about all of this. My own fault for not having listened to the Doc but … I don’t wanna be alone … here.” 

There was a hint of a smug smile on her lips as she eyed him up and down. “You’re afraid,” she concluded. “Is that what this ‘freaked out’ means?” She chuckled softly as he nodded his head and closed his eyes. “Alright,” she said. “I’ll stay. Protect you from the crazy, old lady.” 

“Yeah, I’m scared, yeah, whatever,” he agreed, waving a hand and shaking his head. “C-can we just … go back over to where the light is?” He motioned toward the lighted spot and they moved back to it. 

Once they walked back into the lighted area, Lucas said, “So, there’s another Nora.” He looked uncertainly around then back at her. “Has she ever done anything to you?” 

“Of course, not,” she replied. “She can’t.” When Lucas showed a doubtful frown to her, she added, “We are from different times in Henry’s long life. She stays in her part of the, the never-ending darkness and I stay in mine.” 

Lucas’s ears had caught her stumble over the characterization of this lonely place. 

“And you’re lucky that I snatched you in here instead of her,” Nora told him. “You wouldn’t want to spend your time fretting with her, believe me.” 

Frankly, he didn’t want to spend any time with either of them; but he thought it best to keep his thoughts to himself. He just had to find a way out of here and back to the real world on the other side of the mirror. Suddenly, it felt as though the floor was moving. He looked down at his feet and realized that the floor had not moved but he still had the feeling of movement. Floating. Kind of the way it had felt when he’d once stepped onto a hoverboard. 

“Hold my hand or you’ll fall,” Nora calmly instructed him. 

She held out her left hand and he grabbed it with both of his. Instantly, he felt more stabilized although it still felt as though he were moving. 

“They’re moving the mirror again,” she said with a tired sigh. Her eyes shifted slowly back and forth as she assessed the situation. “Down.” She looked at Lucas and sighed again. “They’re taking it down into that basement lair of his.” Her slight smile faded and she lowered her head, glaring at something in front of her. 

Lucas followed her gaze and his jaw dropped. Why hadn’t he seen it before? The mirror, only … it was the back of it. Of course. He was on the other side, inside this world of reflections that held no real light. Only the light that was let in from the other side; from the world of the living. Oh, if he could only get out of this place, he would never look in another mirror again. Not even to window shop! 

Familiar voices pierced through his quiet terror and regret. 

[“Careful, Abraham. It wouldn’t do for us to break it.”] 

[“I know, Pops. We need to keep it in one piece so we can get Lucas back.”] 

Those voices! The Doc and his son, Abe. “Henry! Abe!” He yelled their names repeatedly at the back of the mirror. “It’s me, Lucas! I’m trapped in here!” And for God’s sake, he worried to himself, don’t break it. How would he ever get out if the darn thing broke? 

The feeling of movement ceased and he heard the voices again discussing him and how to get him back. He laughed and grinned. They knew! Finally, he didn’t have to worry anymore. For if anyone could figure out how to retrieve him, Henry could. He could puzzle out anything. He felt Nora tug her hand away and he released his grasp. 

[“We’ll keep it covered until we figure out what to do, Abraham.”] 

[“Okay, Pops. Wherever he is, I hope the young fella’s alright.”] 

Lucas heard footsteps fade away. “Don’t leave me, guys!” he pleaded. 

“They can’t hear you,” Nora told him. Her voice was quiet and laced with sadness. “We can hear everything that they say. With the cover off, we can see everything that they do. Yet all _they_ see is their own reflections.” 

“Well,” he began, “at least they know I’m in here. And they’re working on getting me out.” There was some comfort in knowing that. He studied her for a moment before asking, “You’ve … been in here all this time? I mean … how long?” 

“I, I don’t know,” she replied as her gaze rested on the back of the mirror. “But it seems like forever.” She walked up closer to the mirror and stood there. 

“I used to spend hours sometimes admiring my reflection,” she said, her smile returning at the memory. “As the wife of a rich, prominent physician, every hair had to be in place, every hem tucked, and just the right accessories had to be chosen.” She turned to face Lucas again. “This dress was Henry’s favorite. He called me his living doll.” 

She smoothed her hands down the hooped skirt and lowered her head, biting her lip as if fighting back tears. 

“He has a new wife now.” Nora blinked rapidly as if her tears could be commanded not to fall. She then raised her head, seemingly lost in thought. “If only I could talk to him again, tell him how sorry I am for what I did to him.” She reined in her emotions and blinked the last of her tears back as she looked at Lucas again. 

“I can’t believe he’s really happy with her.” 

“He is,” Lucas quickly corrected her. 

“She’s happy,” Nora contended. “But if I could only speak with him for one moment, I know I could make him understand that he should spend his eternity with me.” 

“They have a kid! Henry has two kids!” 

“She can remain there, raise the child. Single parenthood is not uncommon,” Nora reasoned. “And Henry has several children.” 

“Several?” Lucas frowned. “What do you mean? We only know about Abe and little Lorenzo.” 

“It’s one of the many things I’ve come to know about him since I arrived here,” she replied. 

Okay. Okay. Henry had lived a couple of centuries as a wandering Immortal. A perpetual 35-year-old hunk, not too far-fetched that he’d made more babies with other women. But was he an immortal deadbeat Dad? 

“Are, are they alive?” he asked. “Where are they? Why aren’t they in his life?” 

“That’s not for me divulge,” she replied. “It was a mistake for me to have mentioned it.” 

Lucas decided to let that go, although he realized that if what she said was true, then Henry had not told everyone the full truth about him. The immediate need was resolving his own situation. He asked her if there was anything to eat. 

“Food,” she said wistfully. “I have no need of it. No. There’s nothing to eat here.” 

“Dang! I was just about to sink my teeth into a delicious leg of lamb when you yanked me in here!” 

“Do you feel hunger?” she asked as if challenging him. 

“Well, yeah, I …” He frowned as he thought about it and reluctantly realized that he wasn’t. But he wanted to be. Because that was normal. And he so desperately wanted to cling to normal, to return to normal! But okay. At least starvation would not be one of his worries while he waited for his friends to rescue him. He shoved his hands down into his pockets. 

“Guess it also stands to reason that I won’t get sleepy, either,” he scoffed. 

“You’re a quick learner,” Nora said, her brows raised. 

He chuckled before saying, “Same thing the Doc said.” Something else bothered him, though. “If you’ve been in here for however long you say you have, why didn’t you snatch the Doc in here a long time ago?” 

“The mirror stood undisturbed for over 150 years in the attic of our home in Rook’s Nest,” she explained. “It wasn’t until it was packaged up and shipped here to his home in the colonies, that everything on this side seemed to wake up. Or, at least, I did.” She perked up when she realized something. 

“I haven’t been here forever. The old crone has!” Her hand flew up to her mouth. She slowly lowered her hand and looked at him. “She’s been here ever since she died after having killed Nurse Peyton.” 

“But you. How’d you get here?” 

“Once the mirror arrived here at Henry’s home,” she began. “That’s when I woke up, you could say. I am … part of her.” She paused to swallow as she looked out into the darkness surrounding them. “Now it is I, who is ‘freaked out’.” 

In the far darkness to their right, a woman’s low moaning grew gradually louder into shrieking. She was calling out a name. “Henry! Henry! Oh! No! No! It was a mistake! It was a missstayyyke!” 

“O.M.G. Is that who I think it is?” Lucas asked while he peered anxiously into the darkness. 

“Yes,” Nora replied in a whisper. “But she sounds closer this time.” 


	3. A Captured Image Ch 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A plan is hatched on both sides of the looking glass to rescue Lucas but keep Henry out of Nora's clutches at the same time. But will it work? Abe steps in at the last moment with his own brand of justice rendered.

Henry and Abe trudged back up the stairs to find Jo still in the kitchen wiping little Rennie’s face and hands, his meal finished. She had cleared away his dishes and removed the tray table from his highchair. While he drank from his sippy cup, she caught sight of them. The looks on their faces told the story. Something had happened to Lucas. And she was sure it had something to do with that mirror. They gathered near the kitchen table and the two men dreaded telling her the bad news about Lucas as much as she dreaded hearing it. But it couldn’t be avoided. Between the three of them, they had to figure out how to get him back. 

vvvv 

“H-how are we gonna do this?” Abe asked, frustrated. 

“We must approach the situation scientifically,” Henry proposed. “First step is the recognition and formulation of a problem.” 

“Lucas got sucked into the mirror!” Abe exclaimed. “That's the problem!” 

“Yes, Abraham,” his father quietly acknowledged in a lowered voice to help calm his son. “But next, we have to collect data through observation and experimentation before the formulation and testing of hypotheses.” 

“Yeah, but can we fast-track all of that?” Abe asked. “We don’t know how much time we have to do anything.” 

“Henry, I’m with Abe,” Jo said. “We’ve gotta figure something out fast.” 

Henry didn’t know how to respond at first. Then, he thought of something that Jo had said earlier that evening. “Darling, you said that when you looked into the mirror, it made you feel creepy. Exactly what happened?” 

“Well,” she began, “I lifted up the covering just enough to see my reflection and, and then I reached out with my other hand to touch it. It’s really a beautiful piece of furniture," she admitted. "But it was so cold; like I was putting my hand close to a big block of ice. So, I pulled my hand back and covered the mirror up again.” She shuddered at the memory. “It was so strange.” 

Henry frowned as he paced the short distance from the kitchen table to the end of the island. He stopped and turned around to face them, his frown still in place. “Each of us handled the mirror,” he said more to himself, “with the covering still on it.” He walked slowly back to the table. “And you actually never touched it with your bare hands,” he said to Jo. 

“That’s right,” she replied. “I didn’t.” 

“Did you, Abraham?” he asked. 

“No,” he replied. “Delivery guys brought it up into your bedroom with the cover on it. I did like Jo did, lifted the cover up just enough to see my reflection. Never touched it with my bare hands.” 

“And not even when you and I or Lucas and I moved it,” Henry stated. “But after Lucas disappeared, the covering was completely removed.” 

“Is that important?” Jo asked, hopeful. “Please tell me that’s important.” 

“It just might be,” he replied. “Think for a moment; Lucas had to have gotten close to it in order to remove the linen cloth covering; and he may have touched it with his bare hands as he admired it. That brief, physical contact allowed him to connect with something on the other side of the reflector ---” 

“--- and, whoosh!” Abe finished for him. “It sucked him in.” 

“It or someone,” Henry said, then pressed his lips together and frowned. 

“What do you mean ‘someone’?” Jo asked, dreading what she would hear. 

Her husband and stepson shared a regretful look before they reluctantly shared their suspicions with her. 

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me!” Jo said, incredulous. “Nora? She’s dead, Henry. Long time dead.” 

“Not her spirit,” Abe countered. “It’s alive and well, lurking on the other side of that mirror. At least, that's what I believe,” he said with a shrug. 

“Okay,” she challenged, “if Nora’s --- spirit is behind this, why did she pull Lucas in?” 

“According to Abe,” Henry explained, “her aim was once again faulty and her actual target was most likely me.” 

vvvv 

The mournful wails began to fade away which meant the restless spirit of the old Nora had wandered away from them. Both Lucas and young Nora released sighs of relief. 

“Look, Miss,” Lucas began before she cut him off. 

“It’s Mrs. Morgan,” she firmly corrected him, her eyes fixed on his from her nearly foot-shorter stance. “I saw him first and we never divorced.” 

Inwardly, he decided to acquiesce to the delusional spirit. Arguing with her would serve him no good purpose, he realized. He also realized that she was probably going to try again to yank Henry in there with her. So, since the Big Guy and his peeps were working to rescue him, he felt it was only fair to make sure, somehow, that Henry remained out of Nora’s clutches. 

“Mrs. Morgan,” he began. “I’d really like to go home now. Especially since I’m not the companion you were shooting for, it doesn’t make any sense to keep me here.” He tried his best friendly grin on her. 

“Send you back?” She laughed heartily. “Why would I waste my time doing that?” 

“Well, uh, there must be some kind of rules for … spirits, souls occupying this space,” he said uncertainly. “Living mortal beings like me simply don’t belong on this side of the looking glass! It, uh, could disrupt the natural order of things in the universe.” He hoped that that last statement frightened her because it certainly frightened him. 

“You could be right,” she said, eyeing him up and down. She squared her shoulders and set her features to resolve. “Alright. There’s really no need for you to remain here and … I don’t wish to be responsible for having once more wrongfully imprisoned someone.” Sadness overtook her again and a good measure of guilt, Lucas concluded. 

“What if the Big Guy doesn’t want to stay here with you?” he quietly asked. Foolishly, too, he conceded. But maybe he could just whip that guilt up in her and make her realize that her plan to capture Henry and make him a permanent non-image with her and her older, mournful self was just bunk! 

“Once he’s inside with me,” she replied, “he’ll remember. How much in love we were. And we can stay this way forever. Neither of us will grow old.” She cast a quick glare at the back of the mirror before turning her glare back to him. “His new wife will grow old and break his heart again; just like all the others did.” 

“Her name is Jo,” Lucas reminded her, surprised at his own boldness because this was in the arena of argument again and he was sure that that wasn’t going to help him or Henry. But he also felt he had to reason with her, make her understand that her plan simply wouldn’t work. Even if his own plan to thwart her at the moment of Henry switching places with him failed, Lucas was sure that all Henry had to do was die in here and since there was no water in here, he’d have to return to the living side of the mirror --- 

“He won’t be able to die in here, either,” Nora said, cutting into his thoughts as if she could read them. “No one dies in here. He and I can live happily ever after. Forever.” 

Well, that sucks, he silently groaned. Okay. Deep breaths. Clear thoughts. Moving forward. “You win,” he said. “When do you plan to, uh, try to snatch the Big Guy in here?” 

“Why do you refer to him as Big Guy?” she asked, confused. “He’s rather on the skinny side. And he’s not as tall as you are.” 

“It, it just means that he’s my boss,” he explained. “And I may be taller than him, yeah, but I look up to him. He’s kinda my hero.” 

“I see,” she said with a smile. “A term of endearment.” 

“Endear--- well, I wouldn’t exactly put it that way, but yeah, I guess so. Kinda.” 

“You actually love him,” she said. “Not in the romantic sense but more like a brother.” 

“Yeah. Like a big brother.” 

“Then, it stands to reason that you would want the best for him.” 

You’re not the best for him, Nora, he thought to himself. He didn’t think she ever had been. “That’s right,” he replied evenly. “What do you plan to do next?” He had to know when she was going to make her move and what exactly that would entail so he could come up with an effective plan to thwart her and save both Henry and himself. He simply couldn’t live with himself if Henry somehow got trapped in this lonely darkness with not one but two versions of his crazy ex-wife, Nora. 

“The time will come,” she replied and set her gaze on the back of the mirror. “And it will come soon.” 

vvvv 

Little Lorenzo (Rennie) slumbered in his crib while his parents looked lovingly down at him. Jo watched Henry as he leaned down and kissed the toddler on the forehead, then rested his own in the same spot. She swallowed back her fears when he stood up and she encircled his arm with both of hers. They turned and walked out of the nursery. As they walked down the hallway back into the kitchen, they smiled wordless encouragement to each other. When they returned to the kitchen, they found a worried-looking Abe seated at the table with his hands clasped in front of him. Henry walked over to his son and squeezed his shoulder. Abe looked up at his father and placed his hand on top of his. 

“You sure you have to do this?” Abe asked. 

“I see no other alternative, my boy,” Henry replied. 

Jo smiled softly at the sight of the two of them and their loving exchange. Their affection for each other was as heartwarming and genuine as Henry’s love for his other little son. He was a good father. And even though he had not voiced it, he was as concerned as they were that he might not see them again for a long time. Maybe never. But they also knew that he was the one with the best chance to extricate Lucas from the other side of the mirror and survive. 

It had been agreed that Jo would remain upstairs with Rennie. If anything happened to Henry, at least the boy would still have one living parent to finish raising him. She stood near the kitchen island listening for Rennie as he slumbered in his room and for whatever she might hear from the basement below. Just before they left, she threw herself in Henry’s arms and buried her face in the nook of his neck. They wrapped their arms around each other and shared a longing kiss. 

“I’ll return to you, darling,” Henry told her. 

“You'd better! Or I'll come in after you!” she warned him, swallowing hard.

He smiled and pressed their foreheads together. “If I’ve learned anything in my long life, it’s to have more than one trick up my sleeve in order to survive.” He kissed her on the forehead and he and Abe headed for the basement. 

Moments later, they stood at the bottom of the basement stairs. Henry instructed his son to remain there. Abe reluctantly agreed but silently resolved to spring into action if anything strange happened. He laughed to himself. The strange had already happened! He should be ready if anything STRANGER happened. He hardly breathed as he watched his brave father stride toward the mirror and pause briefly before he uncovered it. Abe held his breath, not knowing what to expect but not being able to get around an incessant feeling of dread. 

Henry stood in front of the mirror and felt as exposed, as vulnerable, and as anxious as whenever he’d emerged naked from the river after a death. In those times, he knew what to expect: public ridicule or possible arrest or even physical harm. At this moment, he was totally clueless as to what to expect. This was as much in the realm of the unknown as the reason for his condition or when he had switched places in time with his boyhood self a year ago. 

He rubbed the sweat from his palms onto his pants before he stepped closer to the mirror and placed his hands on both sides of it. He stood as close to the mirror as possible and his breath clouded onto it as he spoke Nora’s name. He cleared his throat and spoke it louder, more forcefully. Despite what Jo had said about it giving off an icy coldness when she had been near it, he felt nothing out of the ordinary. Could he have been mistaken about everything? What happened next, though, convinced him that he hadn’t. 

vvvv 

The wooden back of the mirror faded away and revealed the full-length image of Henry on the other side. Lucas recognized the trappings of Henry’s basement lair and he could see Abe standing some distance away near the bottom of the stairs. His boss had the look of a man who’d seen difficult times before --- many times before. A man steeling himself to dive into the unknown and survive yet another desperate situation. 

A broad smile broke out on Nora’s face. “Henry,” she happily breathed out. “Get ready,” she curtly instructed Lucas over her shoulder, her eyes never leaving Henry’s face. “I won’t be so carelessly anxious this time,” she said. 

[“Nora?” Nora!”] 

“It has to be just the right moment,” she whispered. 

Lucas inched up closer to her and stood just behind her left shoulder. Earlier, she had revealed to him that she’d been able to pull him inside with her when he’d pressed both hands against the mirror. 

Do it, Big Guy, he silently willed him. Both hands against the mirrorrrr. As if in response to his silent pleadings, Henry adjusted his grip and moved his hands up and along the sides of the mirror. The growing frustration began to show on the Immortal’s face as he first gritted his teeth then pursed his lips. His gaze lowered to a point just shoulder-level in front of him and he pressed one open hand against the mirror. 

That’s it, Lucas silently coached him. Now, the other one. Thasss it. 

Both of Henry’s large hands now pressed against the shiny, reflective surface. Lucas planned to shove Nora aside and place his hands against Henry’s and, hopefully, he would be able to push Henry back and himself out of this crappy reflecto-world. Someone else had other plans, though. 

“Another moment and we’ll be reunited, my love,” she whispered again. 

Just when she raised her open hands to place them against Henry’s, and before Lucas could shove her aside, she was yanked away. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her struggle as she cried out while an older woman dressed in 1860’s period clothing pulled her further and further away into the darkness, all the while shrieking that Henry “didn’t belong to us anymore!”. 

In desperation, Lucas quickly pressed his palms against Henry’s and pushed forward with all his might. The next thing he knew the two of them were tumbling onto the basement floor away from the mirror. They helped each other up and brushed themselves off. Once it hit them what had happened, they began to laugh louder and louder and Henry even returned Lucas’ embrace a bit tighter. The sound of shattered glass startled them and they broke the embrace. They looked over to see Abe shattering the now covered mirror with what Henry recognized to be the horse figure with the ghastly patina and very questionable worth. In this moment, it was worth more than Thor’s hammer or Captain America’s mighty shield. 

“That takes care of that!” Abe proclaimed as he walked toward them. He looked at the horse figure he held and waved it, saying, “Least it’s good for something.”

He set it down on a nearby table and drew closer to Lucas and his father; then, placed a hand on both men’s shoulders and smiled up at them. “Welcome back, young fella,” he told Lucas.


End file.
